Blagojevich Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald at Knox College in 2009

Patrick Fitzgerald gives the 2009 Commencement Address at Knox College

Speaking at Knox College in 2009, Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor who led the corruption case against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, said that "handcuffs or subpoenas" will not bring an end to political corruption. Blagojevich was found guilty of one federal charge in in 2010  and 17 additional charges in a second trial that ended June 27, 2011.

Fitzgerald was awarded an honorary degree and spoke at Knox on June 6, 2009, about six months after Blagojevich was arrested on federal charges and subsequently removed from office by the state legislature.

Fitzgerald's honorary degree citation, read by political science professor Lane Sunderland, noted Fitzgerald as a public figure "devoted to the truth... [who] takes seriously the task of remolding Illinois's culture of corruption."

In his Commencement Address to the Knox Class of 2009, Fitzgerald warned against giving "law enforcement too much credit" in the fight against crime. "There's a danger that we take away some of the responsibility society has to deal with larger problems. If you give someone else credit, you give them responsibility. And in a subtle way, society can walk away from some of the things we need to address."

Patrick Fitzgerald, Sid Banwart and Roger Taylor at Knox College Commencement 2009.

On the issue of "public corruption, or corporate corruption," Fitzgerald told graduates that the general public has "a willingness to... jump to law enforcement as the solution, and we skip past the middle. The middle are the people who are out there working, who are honest, who see upfront that other people are corrupt and don't do anything about it...

"An FBI agent I worked with in Africa gave me a picture of the scenes of the [1993 World Trade Center] bombings, and it had an inscription on the bottom from Edmund Burke, that said, 'All that evil needs to flourish, is for good men to do nothing.' That's a very powerful lesson. We can't take the view that if law enforcement is out there, let them take care of it. People need to stand up and be counted when they see wrong-doing around them. That's doubly true in the public corruption arena, [where] people think that we will end corruption [with] handcuffs or subpoenas.

"What we really need is a cultural change. Not from law enforcement, but from the people joining society, the full, adult citizens you're about to become. There may be a day in the future, where some of you are approached by someone, when you want something from the government. Even though you're entitled to what you're supposed to get, you'll be afraid about what happens if you don't pay them something. We need to change that world. We [don't need the excuse] 'That's the way it is. That's the way it works. Just go along. No one will know.' We need people [who would be] afraid to ask [for favors] in the first place.

"I know that you here at Knox College lived by an Honor Code for the past four years. That should not be a phase you went through as you go onto the big campus of the real world. You should view that as a four-year apprenticeship -- from being concerned students, to being active citizens. And if you each here today resolve that... if anyone ever tried to corrupt business, society, or government in your presence, you would scream loudly, you would blow the whistle as loud as one of those train horns. That would make a real difference in the world... that you'll be active citizens who will stand up and be counted when others do wrong."

Fitzgerald's Commencement Address is available in video and text form.

Fitzgerald isn't Knox College's only connection to the Blagojevich corruption trial. Knox graduate Maya Moody '91 served on the federal jury that delivered its verdict on June 27, convicting the former governor on 17 of 20 counts.

Patrick Fitzgerald speaks at a news conference at Knox College following Commencement 2009.